I went to Xi’an for a few months before the new wave of anti-China rhetoric started. It was one of the best moments of my life and that was before I was politically aware. I’m sure some of that was from being treated a bit like a celebrity since this was before Covid ruined people’s perceptions of Americans even further. But I would absolutely go again and its sad to imagine what people would be thinking now. If it comes up, I try to emphasize that it was really just ‘normal’. People were just working and going about their days. I got to bike along the city wall and watch a movie projected on the side of some apartments with the locals. My WeChat got disabled when I returned so I lost contact with all the friends I had made, but I still remember all of them and hope to see them again some day. One of them was studying to be a nurse and it’d be nice to know how he’s doing.